Inscriptions on Trains
We now commemorate 52 years from the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact armies. The first anniversary in August 1969 was an opportunity to demonstrate openly the feelings of some citizens about this sad event.
In the Security Services Archive, in the collection State Security Investigation Headquarters – Investigation Files, are, among others, two files (inventory No. V-1950 CB and V-1952 CB), opened for unknown perpetrators. They contain photo documentation of inscriptions on cargo railway carriages, which were designated as “libellous” by the State Police, and of drawings that “are a heavy insult of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Dr. Gustav Husák, including threats to his life”. Due to the fact that these inscriptions were on display on a public object that was movable and therefore the number of the potential readers could increase considerably, the state police paid high attention to this case. This affair was investigated as a criminal act of defaming the republic and its representative according to Sect. 103 of the then criminal law, where the offender could be imprisoned for up to two years.
The unknown perpetrators decided to manifest their indignation through these public inscriptions on the cargo railway carriages in stations České Budějovice and České Velenice. Some of these inscriptions rhymed, some had a threatening character, and one inscription was written in Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet. The carrying out of the inscriptions must have been quick, probably by using piece of white chalk under the veil of darkness. In the case of the train in České Velenice there were also drawings of gooses added. They should have reminded of Gustáv Husák, whose surname is close to ‘goose’ in Czech.
The full quotation of the inscriptions (punctuation added, errors left):
The train No. 6805 from České Velenice to České Budějovice (inv. no. V-1950 CB)
“BILAK IS A TRAITOR”
“KEEP MARX, ENGELS, LENIN AND STALIN AT HOME, FOR US THE TRUTH OF JAN HUS IS ENOUGH”
“ON 21/08 PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE ROASTING PAN” (a drawing of a goose with a human head attached)
“HUSÁK, WAKE UP, IT IS 5 TO 12”
“DAY OF SHAME 21. 8. 1969”, “LONG (MAY) LIVE”
The train No. 7202 from České Budějovice to České Velenice (inv. no. V-1950 CB)
„ЗАХВАЧИКИ УХОДИТЕ ДОМОЙ“
“OCCUPANTS, GO HOME!”
“IT WILL BE ALREADY ONE YEAR
SINCE THE RUSSIAN PLAGUE CREPT TO US
BUT WE WILL KILL THE PLAGUE
AND WILL TWIST HUSÁK’S THROAT”
(rhymed in the original)
“YOU BOLSHEVIKS ARE STARING AT WHO IS WALKING ON THE MOON!!”
(rhymed in the original)
“AWAIT, CITIZENS, AWAIT THE NEWS, WHAT BULLSHIT HUSÁK WILL DO AGAIN.”
(rhymed in the original)
“KSČ (Communist party of Czechoslovakia) AND SČSP (Union of Czech-Soviet friendship) = GOOD SUSTENANCE (BUT WHICH WILL END UP SOON)”
The cargo train No. 10871 in České Budějovice (inv. No. V-1952 CB)
“21. AUGUST DAY OF SHAME”
“21. AUGUST DAY OF SADNESS”
“HUSÁK IS A BASTARD AND RUSSIAN”
“(JAN) ŽIŽKA, WAKE UP, EXPEL THE RUSSIAN HYDRA”
(rhymed in the original)
“YOU CAN LIE TO THE COMMUNISTS, THEY WILL BELIEVE”
“HUSÁK, YOU WILL HANG! YOU RUSSIAN TRAITOR!”
“WE DON’T WANT CENSORSHIP BUT TRUTH”
“LONG (MAY) LIVE DUBČEK, SMRKOVSKÝ, SVOBODA”
“21. AUGUST DAY OF BROTHERLY INVASION, THE GOVERNMENT HAS FORGOTTEN THE 93 KILLED!!”
“DEATH ON HUSÁK, LONG (MAY) LIVE DUBČEK!”
Despite the efforts of the investigators to discover the perpetrators, they failed and weren’t even able to specify the crime scene, where the inscriptions were written, or the time. Nonetheless it is probable that the inscriptions stayed on the trains for just one night and were washed off already in the morning by the railways employees. The perpetrators were not revealed, nobody was even accused or directly suspected, and the investigation was suspended.
